22 APRIL 1922, Page 3

The Board of Trade index figure of the cost of

living was for April 1st four points -lower than for March 1st. The average level of retail prices was then 82 per cent. above the level in July, 1914. 'The cost of living is now about the same as in the autumn of 1917. After then it rose steadily to a maximum of 176 per cent. above the pre-war level in November, 1920, and has since fallen steadily. The reductions in wages have not kept pace with the rise in the real value of the money earned, BO that the workman who is in employment is much better off than he was eighteen months ago.